


All Consuming

by wanderer765



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 20:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7907164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderer765/pseuds/wanderer765
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The depth of Barry and Iris' love for one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Consuming

It consumed him, his love for her. Especially now that he'd lost both his parents. Especially now that she loved him the way he'd always loved her. It changed things for him. She had always been one of the most important people in his life, but now she truly was  _the_ most important person in his life. She was his whole world.  
The reason he woke up in the morning was so that he could see her beautiful face, hear her gentle voice. Be there for her. Protect her.  
  
And whether she knew this or not, she was the sole reason for his coming back to this timeline. He'd gone back, saved his mom, given himself the life he always thought he'd wanted. And for a while it was.  
  
He was happy. Things were good. But then he started to forget as he started to remember. Memories he'd never had in the previous timeline replacing other memories. His parents dropping him off at college. Graduation with both his parents by his side.  
  
Gone were the memories of Iris standing by his side while he wore his cap and gown. He was aware of it happening, but was completely helpless to stop it - unless he could find his way back. He panicked thinking that soon all memories of her would be gone, stripped from the places he'd buried her deep in his mind for safe keeping. He couldn't lose her.  
  
She was the one thing he would never survive losing.  
  
She was the air he would kill to breathe. She was the charge that kept him going, the lightning that coursed through his veins.  
  
He didn't want to suffocate her, would never want her to feel like she didn't have the space she needed, but it was never enough for him. He could never get enough of her. She filled his every thought, motivated his every move. It scared him, just how much his love for her had grown. He never thought it could grow to what it was. Never thought the feelings he had for her could possibly deepen more than what they were. Like in the darkest of caves, when you don't think it could get any darker, but somehow it does the further away from the outside world you get. Down and down you go and you forget what exists beyond the darkness as it swallows you. Overtaking everything you once could see.  
  
He could only see her.  
  
He'd forsake all others if she'd let him. He could spend the rest of his life wrapped up in her and he'd be completely content.  
  
But she would remind him that they couldn't always be selfish in their love. They had to leave room for the people that cared for them. The people that were rooting for him and depended on him. He had to care about them too. And when she reminded him of this it only made him think of her more, love her more, because she was always trying to better him. Always forcing him to look beyond himself. Beyond her. No matter how much he didn't want to.  
  
It consumed her, her love for him. In ways she never thought possible. She would lock the door of their apartment and never leave if she could.  
  
Barry let his emotions drive his actions, so Iris had to sometimes push that aspect to the side, be the one of them to think clearly. Otherwise they'd both be completely useless. At least to others. They'd be no good for anyone other than themselves.  
  
She sometimes doubted if he understood how much he meant to her. If only he could've seen her in those nine months. How completely broken she'd been. How her father had to convince the hospital to let her spend the first few weeks by his bedside, in order to keep from having to admit her for exhaustion. She couldn't sleep if she wasn't next to him.  
  
He'd tried and sent her home the first few nights, telling her she needed to let herself  have some space from all the machines beeping and the power outages that kept happening. But all she did was cry and worry when she was away. She only slept soundly when she shared the same space as him. Her Barry.  
  
She believes that deep down she'd always been in love with him, but that she never recognized it as such. Not until after he told her how he'd always felt.  
  
They were Barry and Iris, best friends for as long as she could remember. But looking back maybe it was Barry and Iris, soul mates, who've never been anything other than in love with each other. It was such a constant that she didn't even see it.  
  
Now that they'd finally gotten it right. Finally been able to get their stories etched out and on the same page, it was everything to her.  
  
She can feel him holding back sometimes, like he's afraid he'll somehow push her away if she were to ever see him for all that he is. A man completely and utterly fixated on his love for her. Like a man diseased and plagued by something that has no cure.  
  
If he only knew that she was cursed by this very same thing.  
  
Her love for him was like that thirst that could never be quenched. Like a dry desert that is finally drowned in rain, only to dry up moments later, thirsting as if it had never had reprieve.  
  
It's this secret thing between them that really isn't a secret at all. Just something unspoken. They do let each other see it sometimes though. Especially in those moments right before he leaves to fight a meta.  
  
He'll hesitate to leave and she'll hesitate to let him go.  
  
Both their hearts will race, in sync. They'll hold each other for just a second too long and they'll know.  
  
It kills him to leave her, for a thousand different reasons. It kills her to let him leave, for a thousand different reasons. But they'll remember that this is bigger than them. They know the world doesn't revolve around their love for each other, but they also know that it does.  
  
They're each others reason for everything. There's no Barry Allen without Iris West. There's no Iris West without Barry Allen. Their whole existence is dependent on the other.  
  
An all consuming love that transcends space and time.


End file.
